Google becomes more local

If you're like us, you're constantly looking for things in your neighborhood, whether it's [restaurants in zurich] or a new [dentist in houston]. If you specify your location in your query, we often show your results on a map. But we've noticed that much of the time users make simpler searches, like [restaurants] or [dentist].

We like to make search as easy as we can, so we've just finished the worldwide rollout of local search results on a map, which will now appear even when you don't type in a location. When you search on Google, we will guess where you are and show results near you. (Click on the image to view larger.)

How do we guess your location? In most cases, we match your IP address to a broad geographical location. You can also specify your likely location using the "Change location" link on the top right corner, above the map. We try to make our guesses as good as they can be so that whether you're shopping for [groceries], [sporting goods] or [flowers], or looking for your [bank], your [gym], or the [post office], you can just say what you want, and we'll try to find it right where you are. You can also search for specific stores or street addresses near you, like [cornelia st cafe] in New York, for example.

Or [111 8th ave] in New York.

We hope this new feature will make it just a little bit easier for you to get where you're going.

Posted by Jenn Taylor and Jim Muller, Software Engineers